Anastasia. My sire. The only influential figure in my already-fragile life. She did this to me. She caused all the pain and suffering. There was a time I believed I owed her everything. After all, she gave me immortality and the never-ending thirst for the energy contained in the blood of my victims.

But now vampires hunt me and the humans want to use me as their personal weapon. They believe I'm some kind of apotropaic figurine that can damn all Deamhan and force us back into hell where we belong. Me? I just want to live. I just want to be Maris. That way, the only one I can damn is myself.

I heard rustling to my left and the smell returned with it. Making my way through the bushes, I came upon the female vampire lying on her side on a bed of twigs and brush. I stood motionless and her eyes opened, staring back at me. My fangs extended. I should've yelled out to Finley, telling him I had found her, but part of me wanted to question her first. She looked weaker, due to the bite wound from Silvanus on her wrist and her different colored eyes still mesmerized me.

“Don't come any closer,” she whispered as she sat up.

There wasn't any force in her threat. I personally didn't want to harm her. My human mother used to say I was a curious child who had to know everything. As a Deamhan, that didn't change.

“Why do you vampires smell bad?” I knelt next to her.

She moved away from me. “Deamhan don't smell any better.”

I sniffed my arms, smelling nothing. “No, that's you. I'm sure of it. You all smell like dirt and rotten flesh.” My mouth opened slightly. I had so many questions for her and I didn't know what to ask first.

She looked to her left in the direction that Finley walked. “You've come to claim me, Deamhan? Well, what are you waiting for?”

“I don't know what you mean by that,” I replied. “But if you answer my questions, I promise that I will let you go.”

“And why should I believe you?”

“I don't know. Maybe because I'm your only option of escape?”

Again she looked to Finley. “Fine. Make your questions quick.” She nodded.

“Silvanus said that vampires from the Dorvo Coven hunt us. Is that true?”

“You know nothing about my coven.”

“So you are from the Dorvo Coven,” I said. “And you kill Deamhan?”

“We all kill, Ramanga.”

“Would you kill me if you had the chance?”

“If I had to, yes.” Her eyes moved back and forth from me to Finley. “But I wouldn't because you're the descendent.” Her reply sounded like a question and a statement.

“So you don't want to kill me?”

The air carried the voices of other Ramanga near the front of the house. I looked back quickly. “I think they found your vampire friend.”

She stared at me for what felt like a lifetime before saying, “Every part of me wants to kill you still.”

She turned her attention to Finley who remained far from our location. “Because you can decipher it.”

“Decipher what?”

“The spell. You can decipher the spell your ancestor used to create the vermin.” I sensed her fear starting to mount.

“Like I told my kind, I don't know anything, especially magic that would release the first eight Deamhan from Limbo.”

She laughed suspiciously and tilted her head to the side. “It's part of you.” She swiped her hair from her face. “It's inside you.”

“This isn't a laughing matter.”

“I'm sure you heard that together, Deamhan can be an unstoppable force, but do you know what's stronger than that?”

I didn't know.

“An unstoppable supernatural force,” she answered. “Deamhan and vampire are not that different. We both fear nothing, we are both taught to live as we please and we do what we want. The problem with that elementary philosophy is that we supernatural creatures, in fact, should fear everything. We should fear being known, we should fear attention, ourselves, and what we're capable of. The difference between our species is how we handle that fear.”

I didn't quite understand where she was going with her speech.

“Out of fear, Deamhan were created to balance the vampires and vampires balance ourselves.”

I thought. “That doesn't make any sense.”

“It wouldn't make sense to you because you are a Deamhan,” she answered. “We vampires can control our nature because we are a natural creation. We have balances. Deamhan are not balanced. You are abominations. You aren't supposed to exist.”